Moussaka recipe: the Greek classic, layer by layer

This moussaka recipe builds the Greek dish in its three layers: aubergine roasted instead of fried, a lamb ragù reduced until dry and a thick béchamel set with egg yolks and kefalotyri.

The moussaka served in Athens tavernas today is a 20th-century dish. Its modern form is credited to Nikolaos Tselementes, a cook born on Sifnos in 1878 who studied in Vienna and worked in the United States, and whose Cooking and Patisserie Guide appeared in 1930. He put a French white sauce on top of an older aubergine and meat bake: sautéed aubergine below, minced lamb with tomato, onion, cinnamon and allspice in the middle, béchamel above.

The quantities below are the house's own. The published reference is the classic moussaka of the Greek food writer Diane Kochilas, adapted from her book The Food and Wine of Greece: she bakes the aubergine slices instead of frying them and simmers the meat until its liquid is absorbed.

The hardest step in a moussaka is the half hour in which nothing is done to it.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg aubergines (3 large), cut into 1 cm slices
• 500 g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 5 mm rounds
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 600 g minced lamb
• 1 large onion (about 200 g), finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 100 ml dry red wine
• 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 1 cinnamon stick, ¼ teaspoon ground allspice, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 80 g butter
• 80 g plain flour
• 800 ml whole milk, warm
• 2 egg yolks
• 80 g kefalotyri, grated (or pecorino romano)
• Nutmeg, fine salt and black pepper

Method

1. Layer the aubergine slices in a colander with 1 tablespoon of salt and leave for 30 minutes, then rinse and pat dry. Salt collapses the spongy flesh, so it soaks up far less oil.
2. Heat the oven to 200 °C. Brush the aubergine and potato slices with 4 tablespoons of the oil, spread them on lined trays and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once, until soft and lightly coloured. Roasting takes a fraction of the oil that frying does, and the finished dish does not weep fat.
3. Soften the onion in the remaining oil for 8 minutes, add the garlic, raise the heat and brown the lamb until its water has gone and it sizzles. Browning only starts once the pan is dry.
4. Stir in the tomato paste for 1 minute, pour in the wine and let it boil away. Add the tomatoes, cinnamon, allspice, bay, oregano, salt and pepper.
5. Simmer uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes, until a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a dry trail. A wet ragù floods the dish and the layers slide apart when cut. Take out the cinnamon and the bay.
6. Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes without colour. Whisk in the warm milk little by little and simmer for 5 minutes: 10 g of flour per 100 ml gives a sauce thick enough to stand.
7. Off the heat, wait 5 minutes, then whisk in nutmeg, 50 g of the cheese and the yolks. The yolks turn the sauce into a custard that slices cleanly; added to a boiling sauce they would scramble.
8. Lower the oven to 180 °C. In an oiled dish of about 24 x 32 cm, lay the potatoes, half the aubergine, all the ragù, the rest of the aubergine and the béchamel. Scatter over the remaining cheese.
9. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until deep gold and bubbling at the edges.
10. Rest for at least 30 minutes before cutting. The béchamel and the juices firm up as the temperature falls; cut straight from the oven, a portion collapses on the plate.

Lamb or beef, and what to serve with it

Tselementes' version uses lamb; Kochilas writes hers with lean minced beef and stirs a ladle of béchamel into the meat to bind it. Either works at the same weight. Serve the moussaka warm rather than hot, with a tomato salad dressed with oil from the new season: Greek olive oil prices have fallen by half as the harvest begins.

Moussaka recipe: questions and answers

Can you make moussaka ahead or freeze it? Yes. Kochilas notes that the meat sauce, the béchamel and the vegetables can each be made a day or two ahead and kept in the fridge. A baked moussaka also freezes well in portions once cold; reheat it covered at 160 °C.

Does moussaka have potatoes? Not always. The three layers attributed to Tselementes are aubergine, meat and béchamel. Kochilas lines the dish with breadcrumbs or sliced potato, which soaks up the juices and makes the first portion easier to lift.

Can you make moussaka vegetarian or with beef? Beef replaces lamb gram for gram. For a vegetarian version, swap the meat for 400 g of cooked brown lentils and 250 g of chopped mushrooms, with the same spices. Tselementes' own book included a fast-day moussaka without meat or dairy.